Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment Participation, Senator Arbib. Is the minister satisfied that proper arrangements are in place to ensure that the Indigenous Employment Program’s Employment Panel and Economic Development and Business Support Panel—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz interjecting—

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz, you should be standing up and apologising instead of waving around fake emails!

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You should be very careful talking about false documents, Senator Sherry! Be very careful.

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Get up and explain your false email!

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Sherry and Senator Abetz! Senator Payne is entitled to be heard in silence.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, may I start again. My question is to the Minister for Employment Participation, Senator Arbib. Is the minister satisfied that proper arrangements are in place to ensure that the Indigenous Employment Program’s Employment Panel and the Economic Development and Business Support Panel for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders can commence in nine days time?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. It is an important issue. Certainly I do want to inform the Senate that this transition in terms of the Indigenous Employment Program and Job Services Australia is going to be a major, major task for the government. It is a large-scale transition. As Senator Fifield has rightly pointed out in terms of Job Services Australia, 47 per cent of job seekers will be changing over to a new provider—compare that to 2003 when over 80 per cent of job seekers actually changed over, and in the previous job system 100 per cent.

In relation to Indigenous employment and the changeover, electronic lodgement has taken place through AusTender. It was the method stipulated in the request for tender. Electronic lodgement allowed tenderers additional time to prepare their tender processes. Over 450 tenders have been lodged for the Indigenous Employment Program tender and they were received from a large variety of organisations. I am satisfied that the work that has been done by DEEWR and by the officials concerned is appropriate. While of course the changeover will be bumpy because any changeover is, the reform will provide better service, and better personalised service, for Indigenous people, and the programs will be on place on time—1 July.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for that information. Is the minister aware that the successful tenderers for both of the panels, both due to start next Wednesday, 1 July, are yet to be made public?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to seek out that information and provide that information to Senator Payne. This is a major reform of the Job Network system. The more time I spend in the portfolio, the more I see that the previous system was broken. If you go out and talk to providers, you will find the first thing they say is, ‘It was a conveyor belt; the old conveyor belt system.’ A week ago I visited an Indigenous training provider working in the construction sector. I spoke to about 15 young Indigenous people and they were ecstatic with the support that they were getting but also that it was not just training for training’s sake. What most impressed them and why they are happy is that they believe it is going to get them into work and into jobs. That is what Job Services Australia is about. That is what the changes in Indigenous programs are about. They are actually about getting real work— (Time expired)

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. I assume the minister’s visit to the provider and the construction centre was part of the hard-hat led recovery. Does the Labor government really believe that nine days is a reasonable time in which to expect new providers to find their business premises, to hire staff, to set up their IT systems and to be up and running by next Wednesday? How is that a realistic assessment?

Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I say again that there will be bumps on the way in this transition. There is no doubt about that because it is a big, big reform. The old system was not working and it certainly was not working for Indigenous people. There is no doubt about it. Coming back to my point, these young Indigenous men and women are learning trades. For them it is not training for training’s sake. They talked about Work for the Dole and they said, ‘We went to that program but we were just made to pick up trash. That is what they had us doing in Work for the Dole—picking up trash.’ It was not about learning skills and learning trades, but the new system is exactly about that—providing skills to get young people, Indigenous people and long-term unemployed people into real jobs, jobs of the future. That is why we are working with the Indigenous covenant as well. Their target is 50,000 positions and we are working closely with them on their program. (Time expired)